Rustic Wrappings PRE-ORDER Now!!

I can not begin to tell you how excited I am to finally be sharing this post with you. After more than a year and a half of prep, design, writing, editing, photographing, and then some, it is finally time to share with you all the details of my latest book, Rustic Wrappings: Exploring Patina in Metal, Wire, & Glass Jewelry.

The process of pitching this book began in the Spring of 2010. The idea for what I wanted to do for the follow up to my first, um, oh-my-gawd AWARD WINNING, book (Totally Twisted: Innovative Wire Work + Art Glass Jewelry) began well before Totally Twisted was even released. I knew that after months of working with my favorite bright and bold colors, I wanted to show people how to create beautiful, rustic jewelry that was still just as colorful and just as inspiring. I worked for several months with Interweave to craft a proposal that would give readers a wealth of new information in the form of awesome new techniques as well as stay true to my unique design style.

In the early stages, we talked a lot about depth and layers and the feel it would have throughout the pages. All throughout 2011, as I designed the projects and wrote the words, I pushed myself in ways creatively that I didn't know I could. The result is a book that I am so incredibly proud to share with you.

And now... drumroll, please...

It is officially available for PRE-ORDER on my website!! YOO HOOOO!!!

I was going to tell you all these details when I got back from Bead Cruise, but just yesterday I saw the first 50 pages of what will be sent to print in just a couple of weeks and I decided I couldn't wait another day. The first 50 pages have me absolutely busting at the seams with excitement and I can not wait for you to see this book and be inspired by the projects.

Here are a few of the things that you'll be finding in the pages of Rustic Wrappings:

* Basic Techniques - Get a refresher lesson in the basics. Wrapped loops, chunky wrapped loops, handmade headpins, and fabricated findings are just a few of these topics covered.

* Patina Recipes - Detailed step by step instructions are shared for creating colorful surface effects with traditional liver of sulfur, heat, ammonia, vinegar, and other handy household chemicals.

* Rustic Color - Learn to take emotions, places, seasons and the elements from your everyday life and translate them into beautiful color combinations that are care worn and aged yet modern and fresh.

* Wire Embroidery - I share an innovative new technique created just for Rustic Wrappings that shows you step by step how to stitch unqiue designes onto metal blanks with wire.

* 25 All New Projects to Inspire

* Meet a collection of wonderfully talented lampwork glass bead artist creating incredibly beautiful beads to be used in the projects shown and more.


That last bit about the artists whose beads I had the pleasure of working with just has me grinning from ear to ear. I wrote up a dream list of contributors and sent out emails and to my delight every single one of them said YES! The cover project shows Kelley Wenzel's ever popular egg beads and inside you'll see beads by Mika Collins, JC Herrell, Yee Kwan, Anne Lichtenstien, Claudia Pagel, Melissa Rediger, Ali VandeDrift, and Aja Vaz. I could not have asked for a more willing and able group of contributors. Their beads second to none!

Below you can see the BLAD ( Book Layout & Design) that shares a sneak peek of a few of the projects that I show step by step instructions on how to create. Take a look:

Rustic_Wrappings_BLAD_web

My editor tells me I'll have copies of the book to ship to all you eager readers in mid-July. So just 4 short months from now you can have this newbie from me in your mailbox. As usual, you can find pre-orders on Amazon.com and Interweave.com as well as any of your other favorite online retails. If you want a signed copy from me though, I'll have to get it on my website!

(Pre-ordering gives me the best idea of how many copies to order, so best get your orders in early. Last time around I didn't have enough to fill demand and I had to reorder leaving people hanging for a couple extra weeks.)

If you want to share my excitement, I would love for you to share this news on Twitter and Facebook! THANKS!

New York in a Random Flash

~* Tuesday *~
:: despite my nervous anxiety, I was able to make it from JFK airport, to the airtrain to Jamacia station, to the LIRR, to Penn station, to the F train at 34th & Herald SQ, to the 2nd Ave stop, to my hotel on E. Houston.
:: phew
:: my hotel room was a closet of a place, but clean and up on the 5th floor away from the ground level noise.
:: after dropping off my stuff, I set off for some exploring in the afternoon... Anthropologie at Rockerfeller Center, NBC News, Times Square...
:: then back to Soho for coffee with a Rochester knitting friend... HI MARY ELLEN!
:: she was taking a class at a place I've lusted over in advertisements... Purl SOHO... oh yes, I brought a few skeins home with me
:: then I met up with my editor, Erica Smith, for dinner at Frankies 17
:: I recommend the ricotta and honey crustini... amazing
:: Erica and I hit it off like we've known each other for ages
:: excitement over starting the big shoot in the morning had me tossing and turning til 4am... ugh







~* Wednesday *~
:: excuse the bags under my eyes... I told ya I couldn't sleep!
:: rather than navigating the trains, each morning I walked the 1.5miles to 48 West 21st St to the photo studio of the fantastic Jack Deutsch
:: naturally I stopped for Starbucks along the way
:: just like Totally Twisted, we started by picking the backgrounds for photos... the techniques are on a lovely light blue linen, the wire on an old plank of drift wood, and the process shots on cream
:: could not be more excited about how these shots came out... amazing
:: and Jack has a full time retoucher, Priscilla, so despite chipping my manicure while working the wire, the photos will all look lovely
:: I loved Jack's space... it reminded me of my studio... high ceilings, exposed brick, wood floors... love
:: 9, yes nine, hours later, we wrapped for the day and went out for sushi
:: apparently I was having sushi with Mondo from Project Runway, but only Erica noticed
:: back at the hotel by 7:00pm, I couldn't go to sleep...
:: so, I made my way back to midtown to the Top Of The Strand for a visit with a dear friend from high school










~* Thursday *~
:: another 10 hours of shooting... so many projects, so little time
:: you are going to love every project!
:: despite exhaustion, there was still enough energy for a site or two
:: Eataly is CRAZY! so we didn't stay
:: who in the world could resist going into a Marimekko store if give the chance?
:: oh yes, that fabric will be inspiring beads
:: I had the best cheeseburger... e.v.e.r... at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park
:: and some how managed to get myself back to the hotel in time to catch the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy... you know how much I love Grey's, right?
:: and yes... another sleepless night.



~* Friday *~

:: on the final day of shooting we had amazing thin crust pizza
:: and managed to crank out 10 projects in about 6 hours
:: as soon as we finished packing everything up to ship back to my studio it down poured... so we sat on Jack's couch and imagined future book projects for me...
:: a lampworking book? hmmm...
:: Jack gifted me the most amazing gadget for my camera!! can't wait to show you what it can do
:: THANK YOU JACK!!
:: when the rain let up, it was time to make my way home
:: it took more than 8 hours to get from NYC to Rochester by plane... I could have drove home and been in my bed faster
:: and no mister officer at the sobriety check point on the way home, we have not been drinking, we are on our way home from the airport, ugh
:: oh how I love my home and my comfy bed and perfectly shaped for me pillows and my hubby by my side
:: I still can't believe I was gone for 4 days... it felt like a moment

NYC

I made it to NYC safe and sound!! So excited to share my adventures with you when I get home.

On Being A Bore

I feel like a total bore at the moment. By no means am *I* bored. No ma'am. I have a million and one things to do at the moment. But, when it comes to being witty, having things to say, sharing my life... I think I'm a bore right now. I'm lacking ideas... just like one of my kids. I can't think of a thing to do, here, in this space. So, I thought I would make soup. This soup, Soule Mama's Carrot Tomato Soup. And I thought I would tell you about the time I tried to make it last year. Silly me, I accidently poured curdled cream into it and oddly enough, no one in the house would try it knowing that. And it went to waste. This year, the cream and basil and tomatoes are fresh. I'll warm this at the studio today while I spend another day tooling away on things I can't show you, and I might even have a grilled cheese sandwich along with it. Oh yes, a grilled cheese made with pepper jack cheese.

Every day this week I have tooled the day away in my studio. As a result, my studio table is covered with the 25 progects that will appear in my new book, Rustic Wrappings. I have been stepping out each project for all the process photos we will be taking when I'm in NYC next week. Have I mentioned I'm going to NYC instead of Loveland CO for this book? Do you remember when I went for the Totally Twisted Shoot? In my 33 years of living in New York State (with some years spent living in Flordia and Texas), I have never once visited the big apple. I am a nervous wreck about it. I have no idea how I am getting from JFK airport to my hotel in SOHO, with my baggage, by myself. Everyone I have talked to has said to just get a limo, HA!, wouldn't that be fun! Yet, so not going to happen. I am putting off figuring out those details until Monday. Then I'll fly down to NYC on Tuesday and shoot on Weds/Thurs/Fri.

Gosh that all sounds so mundane in my head... if I were reading this on someone else's blog, I would be excited for them! But as the writer, I am thinking... who the heck cares if you are nervous about getting from the airport to the hotel. Alas... such is life.

To continue with what feels like a bit of monotony to me, I'll tell you about knitting. While my vegetables simmered on the stove yesterday, and I waited for the kids to get home, I stitched a few rows on a pair of arm warmers I'm making. My sister requested these, but apparently, she doesn't approve of the pattern. She wants something she can lace with a ribbon. I guess I'll just have to keep them for myself. I could really use them. My studio was so cold yesterday that I needed two cups of almond tea to keep warm. These arm warmers round my wrists would have helped... and left my hands and fingers free to do their tooling. About 40 more rows and the first one will be finished. Let's all hope I don't suffer from Single Arm Warm Syndrome (an illness that would lead to me only knitting one and not the other).

Isn't it interesting how warm the photos in my kitchen are and how cool the light in the living room is.

I think I hear the bus coming. Time to shoe Lauren out the door, pack up my soup, and get into the studio. I wonder if I'll see something in today to share tomorrow...

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Remember, registration for SNAPTASTIC The eCOURSE is open!! I would love to have you join me and the other awesome SNAPTASTIC students in class!! You don't want to miss this...

Tea Time Vlog

Balancing Out The Bright

One of the things I love about having a Flickr Photostream is seeing, so plainly, color patterns in the images. Yesterday, everything had hints of yellow. Today, as I loaded photos, I noticed everything took a turn to the rustic and earthy. Sometimes the transition in the stream in the palettes is subtle and other times, like today, it is more obvious.








(as a side note: My hubby and I have recently become addicted to American Pickers on Netflix. He called me yesterday and said "I went pickin' on lunch". It is something we both have always done with my estate sale adventures and his garage sale ones. It is fun now to have a little lingo to go with the junk rummaging. Check out the cool antique oak apothecary cabinet he found for my studio!)

Seeing these photos today compared to yesterday is interesting to me. It really punctuates what is going on creatively for me right now. The book I am working on writing at the moment couldn't be more different visually than my first. Color wise, it will be like seeing yesterday's photos (aka Totally Twisted) side by side with today's (aka Rustic Wrappings), when you hold both books in your hands. What is wonderful is that both are still so completely me. I love old rustic rusty objects and the sentimental thought/feelings to hold. And, I am loving the process of going back to my roots, so to speak (do you remember the days when I oxidized everything I made?), and exploring the wonderful possibilities in this design style. It is making for some really magical studio time, lemme tell ya.

I can't wait to get to that studio now and finish up the project using those little resin-ed papers. You know, pages from a love story, written and printed, more than 100 years ago makes for the best little details in a design.

If You Could Join Me For Breakfast...

... I would have us sit in the sunniest spot in the house...

... I would tell you the kids and I are surviving "winter break" with the help of chilly walks, movies, and playdates...

... I would tell you that I am stealing plenty of moments to work on my manuscript...

... I would share my excitement at the feelings of something amazing coming together...

... I would scoff at the your apologies for licking the grapefruit juice off your fingers and I would lick my fingers too...

... and by the time the last meaty bite of fruit was had, the sun would have moved into another room and it would be time for me to get back to work.

In Which I Share A Secret I have Been Keeping...

I have been keeping secrets... you know this and I know this. I have even said in several posts that secret things are afoot. I have been waiting for just the right time to tell you about what I have been keeping to myself. (and for those of you what don't know me well, I will tell you straight up, I.Am.Not.Preggers and have no plans to become so ever again, so that isn't the secret... I'm just saying because I know that's what you were thinking...)

I nearly told you in April when the seed of what was in my mind started to take life in the real world. I decided to wait. I almost told you in again in August when the seedling was transplanted from my tiny world out into a much larger one. But, I decided to wait. I came oh-so-very close to telling you just a few weeks ago in December too when that little seed of a thought went from transplanted seedling to leaf bearing blossom. But, I decided to wait.

Why have I waited? Oh how I could psycho-analyze the choice. I could, and I have. Mostly it is fear that has held me back. This secret has me taking risks, and leaps of faith that will no doubt having me landing outside my comfort zone. Fear leads to self doubt, self doubt leads to insecurity, and for me, insecurity leads to avoidance. If I stay with the gardening and seedling analogy, you could say it will have me sprouting outside my normal, delightfully safe, well-tended garden bed. So I am much like that last little wisp that clings to the puffy dandelion head when you blow on it to make a wish.. The list of fears that have held me back so far are too many to go into detail, but I am strong and will face them head on. I have fought the weeds of fear before and I am good at getting to their roots and plucking them. (Goodness I picked a good analogy to roll with.) Naturally, some fear weeds are more stubborn than others and for those, I have my loving family and friends to help me with. And thankfully, my friends love rubber boots just as much as I do and they aren't afraid to get a bit of dirt under their nails.

Oh alright... it is time.
Why now? Well, because in that photo above, I finally started it, so it is time.

I am writing a second book!

Could you already guess that?  You see... in April, I started creating the projects. In August, I wrote the proposal and sent it into the hands of my publisher. In September, I was challenged to push past the initial concept and dig a bit deeper into the possibilities. In December, I signed the contract. And today... today... I started putting the words on the page. My first deadline for half the book and half the projects in March 1st and the complete manuscript is due July 1st. The expected release date is Spring 2012.

And, my favorite part... the title... Rustic Wrappings: Merging Metal, Wire, & Art Glass.

Through the pages of this new book we will explore together how to create timeless designs that are vintage in feel while still being fresh. Think western sunsets, beach side cottages, romantic promenades, ruffles on petticoats, and wearing your heart on your sleeve. Color will still be a strong element but we'll use the softer, subtler, and gentler side of color to express these things. As always, my passion is for glass, so the projects will feature lampwork beads and OH what a crew of artists I have assembled to help me along the way. I can't wait to introduce you to each and every one... but all in due time. The place where I was pushed to dig deeper into the possibilities is in two areas that are so incredibly awesome, I can't reveal them yet. But let's just say I will be showing you how to add a whole new "layer" to your color palettes, and the second area is most definitely going to have me teaching again nationally in 2012 (and teaching technique rather than project based classes which is something I am so so excited about).

It is going to be a wild couple of months as I juggle not only this deadline but several others as well. Exciting times are ahead not only with this project, but others too. You are going to see a written piece from me soon in one of my favorite magazines of all time. Wire Style 2 will be hitting shelves soon too. I am contributing on a beading friend's book project. The studio has me busy as can be with my first First Friday in just a couple of weeks. There are other details too that if I start to think on them and list them, I will get overwhelmed and want to numb myself to the anxiety of it all. So let's just put those other things off until we need to handle them. Plus, I will be turning 33 in no time at all and the odd number just isn't sitting well with me. I would much rather skip 33 and say I am 34 two years in a row. But, I digress.

I am so so excited and I can't wait to share this journey with you.